Leading British artist David Shrigley’s participatory artwork, Melbourne Tennis Ball Exchange, features over 8,000 new tennis balls that may be exchanged. The Melbourne Tennis Ball Exchange is located within the National Gallery of Victoria.

The NGV’s expansive and dynamic work is making its Australian is running until 28 January 2024, as part of the free, late-night Triennial EXTRA programme.

By trading in their old tennis ball for a new one, visitors to Melbourne Tennis Ball Exchange may add to this dynamic and sporty piece of art. Shrigley wants people to think about the happiness that can be had by exchanging common commodities, even if they are of equal value.

The artist said: “The Tennis Ball Exchange was initially inspired by my dog. She loves tennis balls. Dogs and human beings have different relationships to objects. My dog will fight over a tennis ball at one moment and then be completely uninterested in it the next. When I first made the Tennis Ball Exchange in London I thought that people would bring in soiled tennis balls that their dogs had chewed and replace them with nice new ones. What most people actually did was create an artwork on a tennis ball which they then came and exchanged. So it became a sort of free-for-all open exhibition.”